I don't own anything except for my OC.
xxx
She was caught off guard when he patted the top of her head again and winked at her before moving past to join back with the others again.
Julianna had returned back to the group only for a short moment before she asked the noble who had an injured foot to come step back aside with her so she could tend to the wound. The woman was knelt down and balancing on the ball of her heels as she worked on her patient. She had been entirely not surprised to see that the so-called injury had been nothing more than a minor twisted ankle, even though it had been regarded as, 'the most painful thing I have ever experienced in all my long, noble life'. The healer diagnosed that the muscle around the bone had some obvious swelling, but from her own medical diagnosis, she allotted that such slight discomfort was probably one of the least most troublesome injury that could have been acquired after traversing through the dangerous land of the Desolation.
As she coated her hands in a warming blue aura, she finally decided to speak up as the silence between the two was becoming uncomfortable. She cleared her throat before speaking up.
"So, if you don't mind answering. Why come all the way here instead of sending a letter or a courier?" Julianna asked, watching as the noble's foot already began to reduce in its swelling.
The pompous man above looked as though he was having an internal debate about speaking to someone else that was much lower than himself on the totem pole, but he eventually caved in. "Because our beloved King Joko invited us here to discuss these matters more privately. He is assured that given the lack of progress made in Twilight Harbor, means that there must be spies unknowingly hidden among the walls of Palawadan right now."
"Ah...", the woman lamely replied, unsure of what else to say.
"The matter of the situation in that town should have already been resolved, so Joko says, but the Sunspears have been like an unstoppable weed", the man continued, looking towards where his Prince and the tall undead ruler were conversing in a group near the middle of the room. "They've been harassing our convoys and disrupting trade among all else. How can they expect to receive any goods or food when they keep making a mess of things?"
"I'm sure they aren't getting much anyway...", Julianna mumbled under her breath, brows furrowing together as her face hardened and her bleeding heart rang out. She was quite familiar with the levels of wealth and poverty after seeing the extreme distinct display of it back in Lion's Arch. The woman hadn't quite been living in the slums of the harbor, but there were still a couple of hospitals situated in higher places of prosperity within the bustling city.
She could suddenly sense a pair of eyes boring into her very soul, and she could instantly feel the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Her head didn't dare to turn around, as she was in disbelief that the terrifying monarch could have actually heard her from all the way over here on the other side of the throne room. Though she assumed by distasteful looking face her patient must have been wearing, meant that he had likely been watching their transgression and assumed the worst.
That or he was just seeking to bother her as much as possible.
Joko had indeed been watching the entire ordeal from afar, as he could quite easily tell even when he hadn't been able to hear anything that his stubborn little healer must have said something entirely distasteful giving the annoyed look her patient was currently wearing.
"Is the lout getting herself into trouble as per usual?" Grand Vizier Utumishi spoke up, adjusting the high collar of his shirt as he walked up. He had left the nobles to converse among themselves when he could see that his ruler had become fixed on something else again.
"Indubitably", the undead answered, keeping his answer short and as he continued watching from afar. He didn't bother hiding the awful smile on his face when he could see how uncomfortable his distanced staring had caused to the mortal. The lich practically reveled in how easy it was to annoy her.
"You know, I must say, she's been alive a lot longer than most though", Utumishi asked, trying to pry into the personal reasoning as to why his undead king had found some bizarre fixation on the bothersome mortal. There had been many sorts of mortals that had come though the gates of the Bone Palace, but few had lingered around for too long before they were turned Awakened or fed to a hungry Junundu. The nosy adviser had tried to share the conversation with Wurmmarshal Ekolo and Troopmarshal Olori Ogun, but neither had shared an interest in the topic.
While the short balding man had not an ounce of care within him for the woman, he was greatly curious about why his leader had kept her around for so long now. He craned his neck up considerably to see Joko had been intently watching the woman and was now completely ignoring the nobles behind them. Though they hadn't seem too bothered given they were currently discussing whether an Elonian red or white wine was better suited to a plate of Orrian steak fritters.
Eventually said person in question seemed to have reaching her boiling point as her head of bouncy hair whipped around to shoot the lich a less-than pleasant looking glare from across the room.
A deep chuckle resonated from Joko's hollow chest at her meager attempt to look intimidating from afar. He shifted from foot to foot, finally breaking eye contact with the busy healer as she finally returned back to her work.
"The little tart is an endless amount of entertainment for me", the tall undead answered with his hands moving around expressively, decidedly returning back to his conversation with his adviser. He looked back around to see the annoying group of air-headed nobles and mumbled some ill-curse under his breath as he hardly looked forward to conversing with them again.
"But my king, she's been rebelling your magnificent and glorious presence ever since the day her pathetic hide showed up here?" Utumishi tried again, raising a singular brow towards the monarch.
"And your point, my dear underling?" Joko returned, raspy voice now sounding bored with the conversation at hand.
Utumishi struggled with his words for a moment. "Well, if I were in your place, I would have reduced her disrespectful corpse into a steaming pile of ash and bones long ago."
Joko merely rolled his eyes at the comment, shaking his head towards the ignorant answer. The captured Ascalonian healer had been an asset to him and his Awakened army, even though her occupation would eventually become unnecessary after his undead forces had grown to an unstoppable amount. Though he came to learn that she had also become a toy for him to play with as well, given she had a fire within her that had been constantly lashing out at him. But rather than being dissuaded, he had promised himself to break it down and extinguish it to absolute nothingness.
But at some point along the way, it had backfired for him. He had realized at a certain point that while he had originally wished for nothing more than to break her resolve and stubbornness into a pile of insignificant dust underneath his foot, he also found himself craving it. And the long-living lich easily recognized that if he were to eradicate it completely then it would cease to be, and thus put an end that source of enjoyment.
And so rather, he decided to selfishly cater to that desire instead while he cultivated and grew it so he could greedily take away the pickings when it came time. Of course that also meant he was dealing with another living person's emotions and well-being in this case, as one can only be subject to such torment for so long before they snap and break.
However he hardly cared about that so long as he was gaining something from the encounter.
xxx
Wurmmarshal Eranko Ekolo had arrived to the Bone Palace late in the night, as she had been called forward in advance for her expertise in the field when the group made arrival to the recently captured and dubiously renamed Palawadan. She had loitered behind in the throne room for only a short time, as she struggled to listen to the petty gossip that Grand Vizier Utumishi had felt sharing with her the second she stepped foot in front of the three chairs. The well-respected marshal cursed under her breath for allowing the stout man to get even a second of a word in, as she knew from past experience he was a glutton for drama.
Though the marshal wouldn't have outwardly admitted that there were a couple incredibly interesting pieces of information she willingly stashed aside.
But rather than stay within the confines of the throne room above ground and be left to converse with meddlesome adviser, she shoved herself away and descended below into the long hallway of Bitumen Reserve. The Awakened had brought along a new piece of literature to share with the recently captured healer, and admittedly she had been quite curious about the state of the woman after overhearing all of the particulars.
Julianna Fyre had been in her depressing-looking room and was laying atop her musty smelling mattress, her head well sunken down into the flat, worn pillow. After dealing with the nobles and planning for the immediate trip to Palawadan, she had spent the rest of the day going back to her usual regime of tending to the Awakened's injuries and wounds outside the palace. Currently, she was lost among her troubling thoughts as she had the intricate scarab-decorated ring pulled off while she was examining its carved and detailed surface.
There was suddenly a rapid succession of knocks to her door, before the person behind it quickly opened the flimsy piece of wood without further consent from the owner inside.
The healer's heart had nearly dropped into her stomach as she was immediately expecting Joko to have barged back in to continue with his incessant teasing once more. Surprisingly, the undead ruler had left her alone the rest of the day, so she figured it was probably due time for him to show his decaying face again. There was a great show of worry of etched on her freckled face before it relaxed back into immediate relief upon seeing the familiar form of the female Wurmmarshal instead. She let out a sigh of relief, sinking back down into the uncomfortable mattress again
"Expecting someone else?" Ekolo asked, ducking under the door frame because of her taller height. Although the high-ranking Awakened did have a part to play in finding her trail, she felt there was no reason for that to be shared with the kind yet naive woman. Afterall, she was only doing her job for the betterment of Joko's growing necroarchy.
"No", Julianna quickly shot back, replacing the ring back on its designated middle finger before turning herself to lay on her side. Her back was now facing the undead marshal, as she didn't wish to have her reddened face on display for the sharp eyes watching her. She could feel the color warming her face, and she cursed her inept ability to hide her displayable emotions.
"Well, your return seems to have somewhat improved our leader's unpredictable and shifting mood form the past few days", Ekolo continued as she shut the door behind her. She tried to sway the conversation, as she could see she had easily bothered the little mortal she had slowly come to appreciate.
The marshal continued as she turned back around. "Though his behavior hasn't yet returned to its former, glorious state", she said, the last part heavily laced with sarcasm. "It seemed to have shifted just after your sudden and rather inconvenient leave though, which is none too surprising. But I would dare to suggest that there's still obviously a rift between the two of you, so any particular reason why that may be?"
"Not at all", Julianna mumbled, not allowing herself to open up about the details that had happened between her and the terrifying undead ruler back in his private office. While she wasn't open to talking about it out loud, the recollection of the tender moment she had shared with Joko had still been following her closely ever since it had occurred. Of course that had been atop the constant distraction of thinking about the addition of the scarab in her arm and other recent traumatic memories.
Ekolo shook her head at the stubborn answers, putting her one unoccupied hand atop a hip and rolling her opaque colored eyes. She wasn't going to back down so easily though. "Interesting you would say that. Utumishi told me something entirely different."
The healer suddenly shifted around and sat up to face the other person in her room, her features glowering with anger at the mention of the name. "What did that big-mouthed leech of an adviser say to you?"
"Just some interesting circumstances that I found to have answered some of my previous questions about the situation between you and Joko", the Wurmmarshal continued in a mischievous tone, failing to hide a smile on her weathered face.
Julianna opened her mouth to say something, but snapped it shut quickly. She grabbed locks of her short curly blonde hair in frustration before letting out a long muffled groan before and falling back on the bed disgracefully. She hardly flinched as a thick layer of dust rose up and around her body before settling again.
"Skirt-for-brains... I assume you're joining us on this journey back to Istan then?" the miffed-looking woman asked aloud as she stared at the ceiling above.
"Indeed I am. I aim only to pledge the unquestioned fealty of myself and my wurm corps", she answered, moving to the pile of endlessly growing books atop the nightstand next to the bed. She set a new piece of literature that she had brought along on the tower of pages, balancing it precariously and noticing that the healer was going to need a bookshelf at this rate.
The resting woman had turned her head to stare at the spine of the new book, reading its title. She was still incredibly grateful for the marshal for continuing to bring her books, even after her attempted plan of escape. They had become one of the few things she could busy herself with in her sparse free-time. That was, if Joko wasn't choosing to come bother or tease her instead.
"You surely wouldn't be thinking of trying to leave the reigns of his eminence so soon again?" Ekolo asked to the unusually quiet woman. Under most other circumstances when the marshal had come to speak with the mortal in times past, they would have spent some time sharing two-sided thoughtful conversation. As such, she knew from experience that her talkative companion was acting quite out of character.
Julianna's mouth formed a hard line as her hand moved to hold her bandaged forearm.
"No", she muttered with finality before turning to lay on her side again.